


Life Is A Fantasy (One-Shots)

by Wizzy



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Al Bhed, F/M, Gullwings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4903972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wizzy/pseuds/Wizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just some Final Fantasy stories. I'll attempt to write something for every character, but if you know anything about Final Fantasy, you know there are too many to count.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Protecting You (Baralai, X-2)

“Takara,” Baralai said, slightly annoyed. He walked further ahead, like he was trying to get away from me. “You don't have to follow me everywhere I go.”

“It's my job,” I argued. “As your bodyguard it's my duty to make sure nothing happens to you. Especially after you disappeared on everyone and then the whole mess with Vegnagun... New Yevon would kill me if I let you wander off by yourself.”

“I don't need a bodyguard.”

“It's more for them than you; you do realized that, right?” I said, finally winning the argument. He stopped and looked at me. That thought had never really crossed anyone's minds. If he disappeared again, everything would fall into complete chaos like it had before. However, if there was a way for them to feel he was alright, even if no one could find him, order would remain. And so the need for Baralai to have a bodyguard.

“I'd heard everything became chaotic, but I didn't think it was really so bad that they'd...”

“All of Spira was falling apart.” I caught up with him, placing my hand on his arm. “We can't afford to lose you again.” After seeing the look on his face, I quickly changed the subject. “We're almost to Djose.” Baralai had told me he had a few things to discuss with the Machine Faction leader, Gippal. As to what those things were, I had no clue.

 

“So this is the one everyone keeps talking about,” Gippal said. It took a minute to realize he was talking about me. Until now, I'd only known what little Baralai had told me of him. “She's cute. No wonder there are so many rumors going around about the you two.”

“Rumors?” I was Baralai's bodyguard. End of story. Apparently, others thought different.

“She's my bodyguard, that's it,” he said. Despite the fact I felt nothing for him in that way, the way he said it stung a bit.

They went off to discuss whatever and I waited just outside of the Djose Temple. Leaning against the building in the shade, I minded my own business and didn't speak to anyone.

“Takara?” a voice pulled me from my thoughts. It took a moment to place the voice, but once the face was shown, some old feelings surged inside me.

“Barthello, we do not have time to talk to everyone who looks like someone you know,” another, less familiar voice said to the first.

“You got a lotta nerve talkin' to me after what you did,” I growled at him.

“Takara...”

“I don't want to see you.”

“But I...”

“You heard me,” I said, turning and walking away from where Barthello stood with the former summoner, Dona.

“A friend of yours?” Gippal's voice called to me, signaling that he and Baralai were finished with whatever business they had.

“Ready?” I said to Baralai, ignoring everyone else. He nodded and as we walked away, I heard Gippal talking to Barthello.

“A real cutie, huh?”

“Shut up.” Had I not been still angry at him, I might have understood the anger in his voice.

“Bet she's a lot of  _fun_. If you know what I mean.”

“Say one more thing about my little sister and I will break you in half.”

I stopped as soon as I heard it. To anyone listening, it was obvious that Gippal was just trying to irritate him and that he didn't mean any of what he was saying. But Barthello didn't seem to realize it.

“I'd really like to-”

“Gippal!” Baralai said, stopping him before he could get himself into trouble. “Enough.”

“Baralai, we need to get going. There's no time for this.”

 

“So what's the story with Barthello?” Baralai asked as we reached the Highbridge. We stopped and I leaned against the side.

“He abandoned me years ago to become a Guardian.” Tears began forming in my eyes, but I refused to let them show. “I-I hated him for it. I was too young to get along on my own.”

He said nothing. It was obvious that he didn't really know what he should say. “For the first couple years I wandered about alone, barely keeping myself alive. Then when I was attacked by fiends, New Yevon gave me a place in this world... Do you know why _I_  was chosen to be your bodyguard?”

“Not a clue,” he smiled a bit as my normal self started coming back. “Why?”

“When some members of New Yevon found me, I was in the middle of a fight with a fairly larger and stronger fiend,” I began, laughing a bit at the memory, though I had no idea why. “I was severely wounded and had lost so much blood, but I kept fighting. No matter what, I didn't give up even though my entire body was begging me, threatening to collapse on me at any second.”

“So that's why I'm stuck with you.”

“More like I'm stuck with you,” I joked. “But yeah. Fighting even when I physically shouldn't be able to even move. That kinda made it a no-thought-necessary decision.”

After a minute of silence, the question he'd had on his mind finally came out.

“If you had to fight your own brother to protect me, could you really do it?”

“If it ever came down to that,” I started, not even needing to think about it. “I know I'd protect you, no matter what I have to do.”


	2. Tired Of Being Good (Seifer Almasy, VIII)

“You sure we should be doing this here?” It wasn't what we were about to do that I was concerned about, it was  _where_  we were. The Secret Area in the Training Center was probably the worst place for us to be fooling around, considering anyone could walk in at any time.

Taro was a good friend of mine, though we weren't together. Sure, he wished we were, but he was willing to settle for this one time when we'd go a lot further than that.

Me? I felt nothing like that about him. In fact, I was really only doing this in hopes to get rid of the sweet, innocent little angel reputation that I had. Sure, at first it was nice, but what guy would want a girl who everyone sees as being basically a non-religious nun? Yeah, that kinda sucks.

“Only place we got,” he said, his hand starting to slide up my shirt. It was the middle of the night, so we were alone. But that didn't exactly mean we couldn't get caught.

Just as he slid his other hand up my skirt, someone from behind him, pulled him off of me.

“You aren't supposed to be hear,” a familiar voice said, holding Taro by the collar of his uniform.

“Come on, Almasy,” he groaned. “I finally get a shot with her and you just have to interrupt.”

Behind Seifer stood Fujin and Raijin, as they were always with him. “Raijin, make sure he gets back to his dorm,” Seifer ordered, throwing Taro back towards his posse. As soon as the others were out of sight, he had just one thing to say before he started to walk away. “Yuka, you're a good girl. You shouldn't being doing anything like that.”

He didn't even get a few steps before I had to say something. “What the hell Seifer?” I shouted, surprising him and making him face me. He was confused, and it was pretty clear why. I never argued or yelled at anyone. “The first good thing to happen to me in forever and you have to ruin it! I'm tired of being known to everyone as sweet little good girl Yuka to everyone. This was the one chance I had to actually be treated like a normal person! Everyone treats me like I'm some child and that I don't have feelings. You.... You ruined everything!”

The looked on his face shifted from a confused one to a serious one. He walked towards me quickly, forcing me to step backwards until I was against the railing. It wasn't hard to tell that I'd hit a nerve.

“So, you're tired of being a good girl?” He leaned in, only a few inches from me. My heart was racing, both from how close he was and the fact that I liked him. He could tell I was nervous at the closeness and just laughed. “You don't have what it takes.”

Despite being so nervous, anger flared up within me once again. “I do too,” I argued fiercely, leaning towards him, no longer touching the rail. I'd expected him to move back, but he stayed where he was, making the space between us even smaller.

When he saw that I wasn't giving up, he had another trick up his sleeve. Before I could even react, he grabbed my wrists and threw me on the ground. He held my wrists next to my head, with his body hovering over mine. My skirt had flipped up and my nervousness became very obvious.

He smirked and glanced downward a second before our eyes locked. Noticing he'd landed right between my legs, he decided make another move. He took his lower half and pressed it to mine for just a moment before he began rubbing it against mine.

The more his hips touched mine, the more nervous I became. It felt amazing and made me want more, but I was too nervous to even react.

He stopped and released my wrists as he fixed my skirt and helped me sit up.

“Why did you stop?” I asked, confused and a bit disappointed.

He smirked and turned to walk away. “You're scared. You act like you want it, but when it's about to happen, you get really scared and want to back out.” Something didn't seem right. He was far too calm about all of this.

“You never had any intention of doing anything, did you?” I accused. Even though he could have very easily done something, he hadn't even tried.

“No, I wasn't going to.” He took a few steps and added, “Yuka, go back to your room.”

As he started to walk away again, tears started forming in my eyes. “No.” What I was feeling was mix of anger and sadness, and the latter could be heard in my voice. I just sat there, leaning against rail with my knees pulled to my chest. The one person I desperately wanted to notice me, didn't want anything to do with me.

“Yuka....” his voice said gently nearby. A hand reached forward to brush the tears from my eyes, but I smacked it away, letting them fall. “Why are you...”

He reached for me again and I started to push him away again. This time, he was ready and grabbed a hold of my wrist, stopping me. In an effort to make it clear I didn't want him here, I turned my head so he couldn't see my face, and so I didn't have to see him.

After a failed attempt to make me look at him, he pulled me against him, letting me bury my face in his chest. “Please say something... anything...” His voice sounded concerned, begging me to say even just the smallest of words.

What could I really say though? It's not like I could say, 'I'm in love with you and you won't even look at me.' Things just don't work that way. The only thing I could do was just cling to him and let him hold me.

“Yuka... what is....” he trailed off as a thought crossed his mind. “You.... Why didn't you just tell me how you felt?”

He held me tighter, and it finally dawned on me that Seifer was holding me in his arms. The same nervousness I'd had earlier suddenly returned and I pushed myself away from him. He'd been right when he'd said I was scared, but it was because it was  _him_  that I was scared.

“Why are you doing this?” I cried. “You do all that and then say you never wanted me to begin with. Then when I'm upset because I thought that maybe you had even the slightest feeling for me and you completely crushed that hope, you come running back and acting like you care! Why do you even bother? It's not like you actually care even the tiniest bit! So why-”

He cut me off by covering my mouth with his and pulling me to him again. “I've wanted you for so long. If I had known, I...” he said, pulling away for just a moment. Before he had a chance to continue talking, I pulled myself from his arms. Sitting down and leaning against the rail, I motioned for him to sit beside me.

He seemed disappointed, but did as I asked. Almost immediately, I jumped on him, one leg on each side of him. Before he could say anything, I pushed my lips against his. His fingertips brushed lightly under my shirt, making me gasp. Seifer took advantage of this and thrust his tongue in my mouth. As it fought with mine, his hands slid further up and roamed around my chest.

After a moment, he pulled away from me. “We're not going to do that tonight,” he said, holding me tightly. “We'll have plenty more chances for it later. So there's no need to rush. Besides, I love innocent Yuka. Why not enjoy her before she's gone?”

“You're a real tease, you know that?” I mumbled. Maybe it was better not to rush things. As long as I'd made some progress, that was all that really mattered. Seifer felt the same way I did; as long as I knew that, I didn't care about anything else.


	3. Triple Triad (Zell Dincht, VIII)

“Let me see you take that one,” I challenged, throwing down a powerful card.

Triple Triad... my favorite card game. These matches really get my blood going. In case you can't tell, I get really competitive when I play. When my opponent is worse than me, taunting is to be expected.

My current opponent, Zell Dincht, didn't seem all that worried. “How's that?” He quickly threw down a card with a grin on his face. Energetic and a bit arrogant as always... His card took my smaller one that I'd placed earlier, but it couldn't do anything to my match-winning card.

“Oh yeah?” I laughed and threw down another, taking his last card. “Take that!”

“Oh yeah?” He grinned, throwing down a card without eve stopping to think. “Try this!”

Had the card actually taken on of mine, the placement would have made sense. But no, this wasn't even touching any of the other cards. It seemed like a really stupid move. But the match had a few special rules to it. One of these being the  _Add_ rule. Meaning if two sides had matching sums, multiple cards might be taken. “What the hell are you trying to pull?”

Zell smirked, clearly pleased by my confusion and anger. “Is the card princess scared?”

“No way!” Okay, I might have been a little nervous. If I were to lose, I'd lose my most prized card, Gilgamesh. Not only was it rare, but this card won me countless matches. “I ain't about to lose to you!”

In the end, I did win. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't figure out just what Zell had been trying to do with that move. Unable to put it out of my mind, I set out to find to blonde boy.

Before long, I found him sitting quietly by himself. It wasn't normal for Zell to be quiet, so I just sat next him without a word. I wanted to ask about that move he'd made, but how can you talk to anyone when they're in a mood like this? So instead the two of us sat quietly.

After awhile, he was the one to break the silence. “You want to know what I was trying to do, don't you?” he asked with a smile, like he hadn't been feeling down at all.

I just nodded. “No matter how much I think about it, I just don't get it. What could you possibly have been trying to do?”

Zell just smiled at me. “You sure?” When the only response he got was a glare, he just laughed and finally answered me. “I really wasn't trying to do anything.”

Now I was mad. “You really expect me to believe that?”

“It's true,” he insisted. “I knew that I couldn't win, so I just threw a random card in a random spot.”

I shook my head and stood up. I'd gotten my answer, so there was no point stay any longer. “You're nuts, you know that?”


	4. How Could I Forget? (Auron, X)

Fiends... I'd always wished there was a way to get rid of them for good. Things like that are too much to hope for. But then again, without them, I wouldn't have a job right now.

Me? For awhile now, I've been a fiend slayer. As young summoners make their along this road on their pilgrimage, I cut down as many fiends as I can. In the end it may only be just a tiny bit of help, but sometimes that tiny bit is all it takes.

As a fiend leaped out at a young summoner, I sprang into action. Killing it in one blow, it never even touched the girl. “Thank you very much,” the summoner said in a kind voice. However, those with her didn't seem so grateful for my interference.

“Hey, she's got guardians for a reason,” a blonde boy pouted. “I could have handled it.”

I ignored the blonde's words and kept my focus on the summoner. Something was strangely familiar about her, though most of my memories were gone, so I couldn't remember. “Tell me, little one,” I gently asked. “Your name, what is it?”

“Her name is Yuna,” came another voice. This voice, though I couldn't remember, was a familiar one. “But I guess you wouldn't remember, since she was only a child the last time you saw her.” The man had dark hair and wore a red coat, making him looking like someone I knew but couldn't remember.

“Do I know you?”

“Yuna, you and the others can go on ahead,” the familiar man told the young summoner. “I'd like to have a word with this woman alone. ” She nodded and went along.

This man, why did he seem so familiar? “It's been awhile Minna,” he said calmly. So he knew me, but how? “After you'd fallen over the cliff, we'd all thought you were dead.”

A cliff... As the stranger spoke, I could feel something stirring in the back of my mind. “Fallen over a cliff...” I repeated his words, search my missing memory. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't quite remember.

The man in front of me let out a small laugh. “Still nothing?” I nodded and he continued with a sigh. “You, Jecht and myself were Braska's guardians. We lost you early on when we were ambushed by fiends.” As he said more, I felt that stirring feeling in my mind again. “You drew most of them away from us and towards the edge of the cliff. That's when the cliff began to weaken and eventually it gave way-”

Suddenly there was a spark. “-and I fell with all the fiends,” I finished. “The fall killed them, but I survived, losing my memories after hitting my head...”

When I looked up at the man I'd once known, I found him smiling. “So you finally remember...”

“How could I ever forget you, Auron?”


	5. Next Time, Remind Me To Kill Her (Buddy, X-2)

“Hey! Rikku, Hex! We gotta get outta here!” Kaiya shouted at us as the cave ceiling started caving in.

“Next time Rikku suggests going into a cave after a sphere, remind me to kill her,” I said, trying to catch my breath after we'd made it out.

“Did you get it?” Brother's voice joined us.

“After a nearly getting crushed by a billion rocks,” I replied, glaring at Rikku.

 

Well, as you can probably already tell, I'm a sphere hunter. In fact, I'm a member of the Gullwings. Actually, I should say the  _new_  Gullwings.

The original members all went their separate ways after the whole mess with Vegnagun. Rikku stuck around, which was fitting since our leader, Brother, was actually her older brother. Buddy, our engineer and navigator, was still around too.

Kaiya, to be honest, was almost like a second Rikku, though a whole lot less clumsy and more relaxed. She usually kept Rikku busy and out of the way when the rest of us had something to do.

And then there's Arukku. He's an Al Bhed like Rikku, Brother and Buddy. Rikku told me before that he was a replacement for Shinra, a total genius, who'd been part of the original team. From what I'd heard, Arukku wasn't nearly as good as Shinra, but he was good enough to still be a huge help.

Oh and me? They call me Hex. Is that really my name? Nope. Chances are you'll never know my real name, and that's the way I like it. Rikku, of course, has been trying to figure it out since moment I first applied to join the team.

Sometimes I like to think back to when I'd first met everyone.

 

Buddy and Brother had been interviewing people all day and by the time it had been my turn, they were quite tired of the whole mess.

So far, only one of the hundred or so candidates had fit what the two were looking for. Rikku assumed they wanted to find people like the previous members of the Gullwings, and to be honest, that's kinda how it ended up.

I was asked a few questions and then they talked to each other in Al Bhed. What they didn't know was that I knew Al Bhed, even if I was still pretty slow at speaking and translating it. So I listened, and things seemed to be going well. Then I heard Brother say a very suggestive comment and give Buddy a nudge with his elbow.

“I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last bit,” I said, surprising Brother and making Buddy laugh.

“I think we've found our last Gullwing.”

 

Two years have passed since that day. Two years of running from my past life.

I wasn't exactly proud of my past, but then again, who ever is?

I started in the Youth League just after it was formed. That didn't last long. During a sphere hunt, my teammates all turned on each other and I'd barely made it out alive. I found myself badly injured just outside of Bevelle.

Not knowing I had been part of the Youth League, one of the members of New Yevon, a young man named Baralai, helped me to heal my wounds. To repay the kindness he'd shown me, I joined up with New Yevon. Soon though, my past with the Youth League stirred up trouble for me. Much later on I learned the man who'd helped me had become their Praetor, but that was after I'd left New Yevon to assist the Machine Faction.

I knew a bit about Machina and since they were a neutral group, it seemed to be the place for me. As you probably know now, it didn't exactly work out as planned. And so I ended up with the Gullwings.

 

“Buddy,” Arukku called to him. “We're getting some strange readings from the engine. You better check it out.”

“We're right over the Calm Lands, right?” Kaiya asked.

“Let's land there and the rest of us can play games while Buddy fixes the engine!” Rikku suggested, picking up on what Kaiya had been hinting at.

All the others seemed to like that idea, so Rikku and Kaiya got their way. I didn't care much for games, so I figured I would just stick around the airship.

As Buddy got to work in the engine room and the others left to have fun, Rikku stopped and spoke with me a moment before wandering off.

“You're good with machina. You should go help Buddy,” she said in a suspicious sounding tone while elbowing me.

“When are you going to stop trying to set me up with him?”

“Never.”

“Why am I getting the feeling  _you_  sabotaged the engine?” I accused. Wouldn't be the craziest thing she's done.

“Just go see if he needs help.”

Next I knew, she and Kaiya were pushing me into the room with him.

“Note to self: kill Rikku for this,” I mumbled, approaching the man who Rikku had repeatedly tried to set me up with.

He was messing around with something in the gears on one side. “Need a hand?” My voice startled him and what he'd been holding onto fell between them, just out of his reach. He tried to reach through another space close to it, but his arm was too big to reach far enough.

“Here, let me get it.” While his arm was too big, mine was not. Getting close to the gap, I reach in as far as I could, my fingertips just barely touching it. Using my fingertips to slide it just close enough to get a hold of it, I managed to get the object out and hand it to Buddy. “Need a hand?”

 

After awhile of searching, no problem with the engine could be found. “I don't get it,” he said, sounding frustrated. “I've looked everything over several times and can't find anything wrong with it.”

“Maybe Rikku had Arukku make the whole thing up,” I said, not quite thinking it through.

“Why would Rikku do that?”

“She... uh... she's been trying to set me up with you since I joined up with the Gullwings,” I admitted. To be honest, I had absolutely no idea why. It's not like I had any sort of feelings for him. Sure, he was kinda cute and was a decent guy, but I didn't feel like that about anyone. “Rikku being Rikku, I guess.”

“Arukku's not the type to go along with something like that,” he thought out loud. “Rikku would have had to have done something. Wait, why do you think Rikku had something to do with it?”

“She seemed very insistent that I be here while you were messing with the engine.” After I'd said it, a thought hit me. “She's good with Machina, but even she wouldn't mess around too much with something like this. She may just have stuck something in it somewhere to jam up the gears or give the engine just a enough trouble for someone to notice.”

 

We searched the engine over again and finally found a small metal rod jammed in one of the gears. The only problem was, Buddy couldn't get to it without removing the other gears. I, however, had arms small enough to fit between them.

As I stood back up after retrieving it, an arm wrapped around my waist and someone's lips pressed tightly to mine. At first I froze, not sure what to do. Suddenly I realized why Rikku had been so insistent on setting me up with Buddy. He had to have had some sort of feelings for me. Why else would this being happening?

One arm rested on his chest and the other went around his neck, pulling him as close as I possibly could. His arm stayed where it was around my waist while his other hand touched every inch of my body that it could.

After a few minutes, he pulled away breathing heavily. “This... this is crazy... I...” He leaned in close and whispered in my ear as he gripped me tightly. “E fyhd oui. E fyhd oui cu pyt ed rindc.” His voice trembled slightly, like he was afraid to say it. Even if you didn't know Al Bhed, you could pretty easily guess what he was saying.

Despite all the things that had happened in my past, I'd never been this close to anyone. I'd never been touched by a man before, not even in a friendly way. Sure, a few may have considered the idea of it, but they were always too afraid of me to even try. To be honest, I'd never even considered doing anything like this. Now I almost wished I had, because I'd never felt so alive.

As an answer, I took his hands and slid them up under my shirt, one on each of my sides. He froze a moment, not sure if I really meant what he thought I was suggesting. One look was enough to make him get the point, but he was still hesitant to move any further.

I smiled, leaning in close and whispering in his ear seductively. “E's ouinc.”


End file.
